Kanadas Buschpiloten im Einsatz (360° - GEO Reportage)

Wind, snow, and cold temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius – for almost nine months a year. Nunavik, in Canada's far north, is an inhospitable region. But people live here too. In small communities hundreds of kilometers apart. Under sometimes difficult flying conditions, pilots ensure the villages' connection with the rest of the world every day. 34-year-old Anouk Alarie flies a robust little "Twin Otter" over the vastness of the Arctic tundra. "We are the buses of the north," says Anouk, "people are getting on and off everywhere." And the resilient bush planes do even more: With their help, food reaches the most remote corners of the country, sick people are flown out, or building materials are simply transported. 360° - GEO Reportage accompanies pilot Anouk Alarie on her flights to Canada's far, cold north. A film by Vincent Munié © 2008, Licensed by MedienKontor / ARTE Season 9 - Episode 21 Subscribe to wocomoTRAVEL: https://goo.gl/tIk2Qc Follow us on Facebook:   / wocomo   Press release: Nunavik is the northernmost part of the Canadian province of Quebec. 9,000 Inuit people live here in an area the size of all of France. Almost 40 years ago, the majority of them were still nomadic, but in the 1970s, the Canadian government strongly encouraged the Inuit to settle down. Since then, they have been fighting to preserve their language, Inuktit, and their ancient traditions. To this day, the men go ice fishing for salmon several times a week and hunt wolves, moose, or seals – although no longer with dog sleds, but rather with snowmobiles. Even pilot Anouk Alarie has acquired some language skills over the years. "Kangiqsualujjuaq," the name of Nunavik's easternmost town, now rolls off her tongue easily. However, the most remote and, with 1,000 inhabitants, also the largest town on Anouk's flight route has a simpler name: Salluit. This is where French teacher Mélanie Legare lives. She actually only planned to stay for a year, but then she fell in love with her now husband, Charlie, and stayed. That was four years ago. Since then, she has faced the challenges of life in the Arctic every day. Water, for example, has to be delivered from a lake by tanker truck because any water pipe would freeze immediately. But Mélanie would never want to do without Canada's bush pilots – last year, her husband had an emergency operation that was directed by telephone because the rescue plane couldn't arrive. "The planes are extremely important to us," says Mélanie. "If there weren't any, people would die here."